Yellowstone!

We spent 3 nights camping at Grant Campground in Yellowstone. We arrived midday and set up camp, waiting for Leslie and Peyton to arrive! We had a nice campsite, backing up the woods and had camping gear for 6 people thanks to Jenny and Geoff. 

Nightly campfires helped keep us warm when the sun went down and the temps dropped. Leslie brought color changing flame ignitors and the kids had a lot of fun with them (we made sure to roast marshmallow before adding chemicals to the flames!).  

It was a cold night sleep and anxiety ridden as one of the kids came out of their tent and we were paranoid about the bears! 

Putting the kids to work with the dishes

Stopped by the Grand Village Visitor Center for the kids to pick up their Junior Ranger Booklets. That kept them really engaged for the next couple of days. 

We took a hike at Storm Point to Yellowstone Lake. We saw a buffalo, a mule deer and a yellow bellied marmot on the rocks. 

Picnic lunch break at Fishing Bridge Visitor center on Yellowstone Lake.

From Fishing Point, we drove North to Canyon Village, encountering scores of Buffalo on the way! 

Buffalo in the distance

Really awed by the beauty of the landscape

We drove to Artist Point on the South Rim of The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

The Lower Falls

The colors!! 

The Upper Falls

Buffalo babies!

Rental car sunroof really came in handy for safely viewing the wildlife! 

Sulfur Caldron

Elk sighting heading into our campground for the night

Night 2, Maeve came out of her tent, telling us that Jude wasn't in her tent anymore. We gave him a minute to return from the bathroom and then Pete headed out to try to find him. Thankfully, he was fast asleep in his tent, burrowed in his sleeping bag to stay warm. My nerves were frayed. On the last night we each slept with a kid so we wouldn't worry about them getting eaten by bears! 

Our next full day was all about the hot spring and geysers. My memories of Yellowstone as a kid were of Old Faithful, the Lodge, and seeing Buffalo on the side of the road. I hadn't remembered any of the magnificent hot springs we saw on this trip. Starting with Grand Prismatic Spring.

We had a picnic lunch outside the Old Faithful Lodge and then had our first eruption sighting.

The kids needed a "ranger talk" to complete their Junior Ranger requirements. We missed the one before the eruption, but this kind ranger gave us a private talk on the mechanisms of the geyser. 

Sworn in as Junior Rangers! The pins they give are now wood (mine from childhood were plastic).

There was lots to do around Old Faithful; time in gift shops, ice cream, a visit to the Visitor Center and Indigenous Peoples Center. We were there so long that we got to watch another eruption. This one from the balcony of the Old Faithful Inn! It was more impressive than the first one we'd seen so I was glad we stayed. 

There was a restaurant near our campground that didn't take reservations so after we all got much needed showers, we headed to the lakeside restaurants which ended up being a Mexican spot! We feasted and played games and got our sillies out before one final campfire at the campsite. 

Leslie and Peyton were up bright and early to make the drive back to the airport in Bozeman for their flight home. We were slated to spend one more day/night in the park, but a combination of poor sleeping conditions (cold + bear anxiety) and the desire to break up the next long leg of our journey had us booking a last minute hotel a few hours from Wilson instead. 

After packing up camp, we went to the West Thumb Geyser Basin, which was really impressive and beautiful. Then we made the drive out of the park and back to the Grand Tetons, stopping at the Colter Bay Visitor Center so the kids could complete their Grand Teton's Junior Ranger Program. 

Final glimpses of the Tetons and another Moose sighting in the lake below on our drive back to Wilson. 

We made it back to Jenny's where their dog sitter was holding down the fort. We returned all of the camping gear, made some dinner, repacked the car and headed off on a beautiful drive to Rock Springs. 

And some photos my mom shared after our trip of our time there in 1990!